09 February 2006

Jagged

Gary Numan is back! 'Jagged' is due to be released in March. His somewhat recent 'Exile' and 'Pure' albums were atmospheric, gloomy and dark. Very dark. I think this should be in the same vein.

4 comments:

steve said...

Very cool. I know it's an obvious choice, but I remember hearing "Cars" when I was only seven or eight on the radio and it left a huge impression on me. Geez, I'd sing it at lunchtime at school and pretend my empty milk carton was a car! Anyhow, all I've got is a "best of" compilation and the liner notes reveal Gary as quite the eccentric man. Would you reccomend those past two releases (they sound great--the gloom and all)?

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

I must warn you that the three albums are not the 'Cars' or 'Are Friends Electric' of the late seventies and early eighties. Rather, they are loud, edgey electronic music, heavily laced with processed guitars not unlike those of Nine Inch Nails. There is bitterness, anger against God and questions about religion, the loss of his newborn child and more. It's not teenaged adolescent angst typically found in Nine Inch Nail lyrics.

If you are curious, give 'Exile' and 'Sacrifice' a try. Maybe, 'Pure' afterwards. This is heavy electronic goth with Numan's signature vocals, district electronics and a heavy dose of guitars.

steve said...

Great. Stuff thinking adults get angry about. I'll tell ya, a friend of mine in high school got an advanced copy of NIN's "Pretty Hate Machine" (he worked at a record store AND Trent wasfrom around our area)and raved about how great it was. Even then, after listening to Skinny Puppy, 242, FLA, Nitzer Ebb, and Ministry,I thought it was a bit weak. Anyhow, I sorely regret not going to see Gary play in Pittsburgh in the late ninties. It's good to see he's still angry after all these years (heh heh).

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

His anger is derived from the loss of his newborn child and if I recall one of those albums supposedly has a conversation with god and also one has a hypothetical view if god and the devil are the same entity... I can't remember.

Numan did have some rather bad albums, especially those that were Janet Jackson-esque. His admittedly commercially-aimed ones that were total failures. He did mention that he lost his way then and he wanted to make money.

NIN did peak, didn't it? With 'Closer' and a few others when a droning mechanical sound was adopted? And after which, he reverted to that metal-rock sound again?